Did you ever say what your budget is? Maybe you said it in another thread, but what components are you using? For your front stage, are you going 2-way or 3-way? Active or passive crossovers?

If budget supports, I recommend using new speaker wire. In my opinion, it alleviates a lot of worry and provides peace of mind. Have you thought about where you’re mounting your amp(s)? If I recall, you have an eTorque, so space is limited on the back wall. Mounting under the seat needs to be thought out if you plan to add a subwoofer down the road.

Adding an AGM battery is an investment, but it is absolutely worth it. With an eTorque, that’s all you really need to do for the truck’s electrical system. A decent AGM for this truck will cost about $350-$400. That AGM will support pretty much anything you do going forward and provide years of dependability, if properly maintained (which isn’t difficult).

 

My initial budget was $2,500 but I’ve already spent about $700 sound deadening the truck. I’m okay going a little over but want to keep it close to that. At the moment my plan is Audison AP F8.9 amp, SI TM8’s, Xcelsus xxm325+xxt30 or AF GB25+GB10 for 3-way setup. I’ll add sub and other amp later on.

I’ve removed the factory subwoofer so there is some space on the back wall behind the passenger side rear seat. That’s where I’m planning for the moment to try and leave space for subs under the seat when I get to that. I plan to get an AGM battery, just trying to decide if I need to get one immediately or if I can get by a few months without it while I save up a little more cash. Trust me I want to just buy everything and get it done all at once, but it’s been hard enough to get my wife on board with me spending even the $2,500 on something she just doesn’t understand the need for at all haha.

 

Brother…I get it. Trust me! 😂

Luckily, your electrical is solid as is. You can defer the investment in the AGM while you build out the system. That’s assuming your current battery has some decent life left in it. If it’s weak and doesn’t hold a good charge, it will impact performance. Assuming it’s okay, you’re fine punting on the upgraded battery.

With the factory sub out of the way, you’ll have room behind the rear passenger seat. That’s a good choice for the amps and will allow you to build on to the system as you move forward.

If you haven’t already decided to do so, skip adding speakers to the rear doors right now. Speakers in the back doors wouldn’t be a wise use of resources. Focus on that front stage. A sub will be important for proper performance. Even a single 10” or 12” will make a huge impact on the overall quality of the system. Fox boxes are not that expensive, drop right in, and could be a good compromise to get you started. I ran one for almost three years and it did great! I had one 12” alpine r-type (duel 4ohm VC) on a 750 watt Rockford mono amp. That would be more than enough to have that sweet bottom end that you’re going to want…sooner rather than later. There are probably better subs than the alpine that could be had for half the cost. A single sub with those TM8s would sound great!

 

That’s a good tip about the rear speakers, should allow me to get that sub much sooner! I’ll check out Fox boxes right now, appreciate it.

 

There is plenty of room behind the rear passenger seat where you removed the factory sub. Below pic is mine. I have a 23' Ram 1500 w/etorque.

 

That is a lot of space. I hope my setup looks even remotely close to that when I’m done! Very clean

 

I put a new system in my 22 ram 1500 12" HK. If you have the same, you'll need the pac AP4-CH41 and APHCH42, to interface with the Hu. The harness that comes with the CH41 doesn't work with the newer trucks, that's what the CH42 harness is for, ram changed the plug style on the Hu. The pac APH-CH01 harness is the one for breaking out the speaker leads and bypassing the oem amp under the drivers seat. Oem amp has to stay hooked up, speaker outputs are disconnected with this harness. Just run new speaker wire from amp to drivers seat and make your connections, I have a oem wiring diagram for the HK system if you need it. The 6x9 door and door tweeter are on separate wiring. I extended the tweeter wiring to the door sail and pod mounted the tweeter. Definitely get the pac APA-TOS1, clean digital signal from Hu to amp, one cable to run from Hu to amp, get extra lenght on that toslink cable to, they like nice wide sweeping bends. I found a comb deal on Amazon for the CH41 and tos1, got both for the price of just the CH41. I would recommend you stick with the oem speaker wiring, the risk VS reward isn't worth the work and possibility of destroying the door plug or wiring.

 

This was incredibly helpful, thank you. I’m very glad to hear each speaker has their own wiring, I was dreading running new wire through the door. If you could send the wiring diagram that would be amazing, and tos1 it is!

 

Your welcome. I'll post the wiring diagram tonight after work and look into the switches, I don't remember off the top of my head. I don't know anything about that amp/dsp, but it probably has more functionality then just gain/fading, so yes you want that. I have a Minidsp, I bought a phone extension cable that works with their knob, put the knob in the sunglass holder in the over head console and fished cable across the headliner down the A pillar.

 

Okay, thank you! And sorry for the beginner questions but that knob just controls the subwoofer gain right? And using one of those won’t affect the tuning of the dsp, but just increases/decreases output to the subwoofer?

 

Yup, the gain/fader I called the knob. That's what I meant by more functionality, it maybe able to change tuning slots, each slot being a different tune you have setup. Sub volume and master volume. If the amp has multiple inputs you maybe able to switch between them to. Best thing to do is download the manual and get an idea of how it works and what's needed to make it work, a little research can make the process so much easier.

 

Oh very interesting, that could be very nice to have. Being able to switch between different saved tunes would be useful

 

I also finished my install in my Ram 1500 at the end of last summer.

I cannot recommend netaudio.com enough for sub enclosures and I also used their amp rack that mounts behind the rear seat.

 

I also finished my install in my Ram 1500 at the end of last summer.
I cannot recommend netaudio.com enough for sub enclosures and I also used their amp rack that mounts behind the rear seat.

Wow I’m definitely going to get that amp rack. I’ve been researching how to make one but that is perfect.

Also, I see you’re running the xxt30 tweeter which I’m considering. What do you think of it? And was it hard to get the xxm425 in the dash? I think I’m going to just do the xxm325 but curious

 

We applied deadener and put the carpet back and mounted the amp rack over it if I remember correctly.

We mounted the ground to the driver rear seat mount bolt.

 

Wow good work with the deadener! For the ground do you mean the one in line with the one I highlighted red, but closer to the back wall (behind the bottle)? Never installed an amp so want to make sure I’m picking a good ground spot to use with that amp rack.

 

Don’t want to flood your thread with my pics, but to give you an idea of the Net audio enclosure.

It protrudes just past the rear seat and some people don’t like that, but there is still plenty of leg room in my opinion.

 

All these pictures are helpful to me, so thank you. Looks like the enclosure keeps access to the bins which is nice. I really don’t use them much but want the ability to haha. I’m still reading up on upfiring vs downfiring, and ported vs sealed to determine what to go with, but from a quick look Netaudio has options for all the above

 

No problem. Net audio definitely offers every option you could want. I just wanted a simple, clean sealed enclosure, didn't want bling.

I use my bins for detail supplies and other misc. stuff. I thought about using the passenger side bin for a dedicated 2ch. amp for the 8's as the V Eight dsp just doesn't put out enough power IMO.

 

I second the Netaudio enclosures. Mine doesn't protrude pass the back seat bottoms. Also be careful and take measurements of that Netaudio amp rack. @darylrsv4 doesn't have the etorque additional battery behind his seat like I. Not sure if you have an etorque.

 

Mine does have the etorque. It looks like the amp rack stops before where the battery starts, but I’ll have to look into that, thanks. That enclosure looks great, seems like they’re the right choice for sub boxes.

 

First thing, I told you the wrong part # for the speaker wire harness, APH-CH03 is what you need, NOT
APH-CH01. Switches on the CH41, if using the toslink output, switch 1 to on position, all others off. This will give you chimes and all will work as factory. Do dl the manual for the CH41, there's a process to program it into the truck, don't put the HU and dash back together till its done and working. Right below the HU in the dash, there's a perfect spot for the CH41, wrap in thin foam and set it on edge, like it was made for it.
I'll third for netaudio, 2 12'' dayton audio rss315ho-4 sealed with no seat lift, rock solid build quality. Be aware that you have a limited amount of space for speaker height without a seat lift, most favored subs on this forum won't fit.
HK wiring diagram below.

 

I really appreciate this, just saved me a ton of headache and resolved a lot of questions I had!

 

Where'd you guys mount the Conductor?

 

Haven’t done my yet, but I’d also be curious to know.

 

I put my Minidsp's controller in the over head sunglass holder, out of sight.

 

Mounted mine between the cup holders. I have to credit @Turb0Yoda as he had the mount made and in my hands within 24hrs. Doesn’t hurt that he is about 35 miles from me.

This was supposed to be a temporary mount, but really don’t have a reason to change it.

 

If you don’t have the trailer brake, this is a great spot also. Mounting my DRC here wasn’t difficult at all. The conductor would fit nicely. Sorry for the blurry image.

 

I liked your option better @saltyone , but had to settle for the cup holder location when we were doing my install with having the trailer brake there.

I believe the Conductor is larger than the JL DRC.